Author
Topic: Kazu (Read 2066 times)

I'm out of MA11 for making cheddar, but I thought would be fun to try other cultures. Kazu is listed as being an excellent choice for cheddar & gouda. Has anyone used it for cheddar? What did you think of it? Are there any other cultures for cheddar that I should consider trying or should avoid?

I use it on several cheeses including Tomme. It's a dutch style starter, a bit nutty thanks to a dash of Helveticus. It also works well with proprionic bacteria for Swiss style cheeses. It's well suited to long-aged cheeses. Being a farmstead culture (contains both meso and thermo) it's rather stable and active on a wide temperature range.

Don't get overwhelmed. Focus first at perfecting the recipes and techniques (otherwise you will never know what you did and what the culture did) - use multi purpose cultures for that like MA4000 series when asked for mesophilic in harder cheeses and maybe MM100 or Flora Danica for softer cheeses. Then use Thermo C or TA culture for cheese that requires thermophilic culture. Once you get it right, start playing with the cultures and see if you like one better than another. They effect the texture and aging time as well as notes on the final cheese such as sharpness, nutiness etc. I didn't use KAZU until I've had about 200 cheeses behind me and believe me, it is nice but it did not change my life of cheesemaking. I still stick with the basic cultures more than anything else. Occasionally I mix a little something in them to make them lean one way or another and augment or deduct some of their character, but not more than that.

Good point Iratherfly. I do have trouble keeping it simple... I want to know it all/do it all...NOW! I've made about 23 hard cheeses and only a few are repeats. So many styles, so many cultures...what am I going to do when I run out of room in my cheese cave??? How will I explain/justify a new cave to my Sweety?

LOL That was funny! Nice way to start the day. FYI I'm a girl! Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I'll just wait until he's been very bad and then mention wanting another cave! Timing is everything!